The first time he stole the family’s Blu-ray player, he sold it for $25 at a pawn shop. He used the cash for two hits of heroin.

He was caught, brought to court, and put on probation.

His family bought the machine back.

So he stole it again. The second time, he brought it to the same pawn shop and sold it again for $25 – and more heroin.

Again, he was caught, prosecuted, punished. And freed.

So he did what addicts do – he stole it again. And again.

Four times it happened – in a repetition of sickness, silliness and sadness.

Soon, the courts closed in on him – and the addict went to prison. He was sick, scared, and seeking one thing – to be home with his heroin.

Soon he was. So he stole the family’s new Blu-ray player, and pawned it.

If this weren’t so sad, it would seem a suitable script for a television sketch. But it is, because it involves the life of a young addict and his family.

This story is one of crisis, not comedy – and one that has played out for years in the Brockton region as young adults struggle with the insidious horrors of heroin addiction.

They have received little help from the criminal justice system the past decade, which dealt with the frenzy of theft and addiction as it deemed best – by punishing those responsible.

That approach didn’t work. Thankfully, that approach is changing.

The region has evolved, learned and come to accept addiction as the sickness it is. With this new understanding, the legal powers-that-be have consented to a life-saving drug court in Brockton.

Finally.

That it took a decade of death and despair to reach this point is a travesty, and one we’ll forever have to live with. That local officials allowed the fear and stigma of addiction to paralyze them into inaction for so long is tragic. It cost lives.

This region, after all, has been in the midst of an OxyContin- and heroin-fueled crisis since the early 2000s. The epidemic has brought a wave of crime, an overdose of deaths, and a sadness that still seeps through the region.

How bad did it get? Addicts rifled through entire neighborhoods, pulled copper piping from homes, metal from construction sites, catalytic converters from SUVs – anything and everything they could sell to sustain themselves.

Some communities reported a 400 percent increase in thefts – most of it linked to the drug crisis.

Area police cracked down, and soon criminal courts were clogged with suspects sick from withdrawal, desperate for help, and headed for incarceration, not a cure. Many of our young addicts died.

Some communities, such as Quincy, responded. They started a drug court more than 10 years ago, and an anti-overdose Narcan program seven years back. Both programs have been proven to save lives.

Not the Brockton region, which our “Wasted Youth” stories showed to be the epicenter of this region’s crisis. Mired in an antiquated mind set, and bent on prosecution over treatment, officials here followed age-old protocols even as our young adults perished.

Countless families suffered.

Finally, there is change. The Narcan program is in place. And a drug court – undeniably the biggest piece – is coming.

It promises a different path to those who want to regain a foothold in life, and an alternative to the rigors of incarceration. There is treatment, constant monitoring, support – even a graduation for those who finish the program and rejoin society in a constructive fashion.

It promises hope, because it offers drug users what they need most – that is, a way clear of the disease that has engulfed them, and a way free of the one prison they truly fear.

Addiction.

Enterprise managing editor Steve Damish can be reached at sdamish@enterprisenews.com, and @stevedamish–ent.